Every Light in the House is On
by ncis-boss-z
Summary: songfic based on the song "Every Light in the House is On"...Tony has left Jeanne, and now they both must move on.


**Every Light in the House is On**

**Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing except for my iPod on which I heard this song…DPB is the genius behind the show and Trace Adkins is the man behind the music!**

**A/N: This is a songfic based on the song Every Light in the House is On by Trace Adkins. I love country music, and I was listening to this song and it the idea came to me. This is another story that's very out of character for me. Please read, review, and enjoy!**

Jeanne sat alone in her living room. Her thoughts flashed back to earlier that day.

She had just found out that the man she had been dating was not who she thought he was. Tony DiNardo was not a professor and he did not teach about film. His real name was Tony DiNozzo and he was a special agent for NCIS. He wasn't going out with her because he liked her, he was going out with her because he was undercover trying to get closer to her father, and apparent arms dealer.

He had told her he loved her, she had loved him. She was almost sure of it when he asked her to move in with him. She had bought this house instead. She had inherited a lot of money from her father when he was killed, so now she wouldn't struggle to pay the bills for it. Tony had lived with her a little while, that is, before she found out he wasn't who he said he was.

He had come over earlier to apologize.

(FLASHBACK)

"Jeanne, I'm sorry," he said.

"Did you ever really love me? Or was that a lie too?" she asked, tears in her eyes.

Tony struggled with his next words, "It was a lie to get closer to you and your father."

A single tear slid down Jeanne's cheek, Tony fought back the urge to wipe it away and hug her and tell her everything would be alright.

"So you're choosing them over me?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Tony nodded, not confident enough in himself to even speak.

"I'll leave a light on," she said.

"I appreciate it," he replied.

She closed the door without another word, and he turned and walked away.

_I told you I'd leave a light on  
In case you ever wanted to come back home  
You smiled and said you appreciate the gesture  
I took your every word to heart  
'Cause I can't stand us being apart  
And just to show how much I really miss ya_

Now it was ten o'clock, and Jeanne still sat alone on the sofa, wondering and waiting for Tony DiNardo, her Tony, to knock on the door and apologize for being such a jerk.

True to her word, she left the lights on. The floodlights in the backyard made it look like the early morning sun was rising in the middle of the night. The lights on the walkway leading up to the front door looked like a runway. It was like the middle of the day in the middle of the night. He would be able to find his way back if he ever needed to.

_Every light in the house is on  
The backyard's bright as the crack of dawn  
The front walk looks like runway lights  
It's kinda like noon in the dead of night  
Every light in the house is on  
Just in case you ever do get tired of being gone  
Every light in the house is on_

She thought about what she would do if she ever got over him. She didn't think she would, but she needed something to think about. She decided to turn off one light every time she was able to forget about him, even for a little while, and go on with her life. If he ever passed by, he would know that she was agreeing they were over for good. For now though, there was a glowing just south of downtown D.C., where she was waiting for him to be in her arms again.

_If I should ever start forgetting  
I'll turn the lights off one by one  
So you can see that I agree it's over  
But until then I want you to know  
If you look south, you'll see a glow  
That's me waiting at home each night to hold ya_

But for now, the lights in the house remained on. It was hard for her to sleep with all of the lights, but she would endure it for him. He was everything to her. Her electricity bill would probably be through the roof, but if she knew that he knew that she still cared about him, maybe he would come back, and then maybe it would be worth the trouble.

She wondered what he was doing at this exact moment. She wondered if he was with that beautiful foreign woman he was with earlier when she had found out who he really was. He said she was just his partner, but she thought she could sense something more between them. She hoped he was thinking about her, but figured he probably wasn't. So all alone, she spent her night in the bright daylight that glowed like a beacon in the dark.

_Every light in the house is on  
The backyard's bright as the crack of dawn  
The front walk looks like runway lights  
It's kinda like noon in the dead of night  
Every light in the house is on  
Just in case you ever do get tired of being gone  
Every light in the house is on…_

Nights passed. The nights turned into days, the days into weeks, and the weeks into months. The whole time she kept every single light on.

It was now seven months after that fateful day. Jeanne had gone to work, and then her friends took her out to a nightclub in downtown Washington, D.C. Her best friend had introduced her to a very cute surgeon, and they had hit it off immediately. They had plans for the next night to go have dinner and get to know each other. Jeanne went home alone that night. She wanted to be alone as she did what she was going to do. The surgeon dropped her off at her front door. When he left, she unlocked the door and went inside. On her way to her bedroom, she flipped off the lights to the front walk.

(Outside) Ziva pulled up her red mini cooper in front of a house bright as daylight. The only lights not on were the front walkway lights. She turned to the man in the passenger seat who was staring blankly at the paved walkway. The two had driven past every night for the past seven months. She told him it wasn't healthy, but he insisted, and she wanted him to be somewhat happy. She reached for his hand that lay limply on the console separating the two people in the front seats. She squeezed it gently, just so he would know she was there for him if he needed her. He squeezed back. Any other time, he wouldn't need support, but he did now, and she was there for him. She had his six like he had hers so many times before, she owed him.

She thought about the time he had followed her up into the rafters of an abandoned warehouse. There was a bomb ticking, and if it went off, it would blow up valuable evidence in their case. They didn't have time for the bomb squad to arrive, and Ziva knew she could disable it. She had climbed stealthily into the rafters, Tony bumbling behind her. She fought back the urge to laugh at the memory.

"Tony, are you alright?" she said softly, comfortingly.

Her voice brought him out of his thoughts of the woman he knew was inside the house. He nodded.

She turned her car back on and drove slowly away. He turned to her.

"Thank you, Ziva," he said out of the blue.

"For what?" she asked, keeping her eyes on the road.

He shrugged, "For bringing me to her house every night. It meant a lot to me."

"You are welcome," she said simply.

He continued, "I don't think we have to go anymore."

She turned to him. Something was defiantly up if he didn't want to go back anymore, "Why not?"

"I just want to…I just wanted to make sure she would be okay. I wanted to make sure she would move on eventually," he explained.

She nodded, "I am sorry you had to leave her."

"I chose to," he said.

"Yes, still," she replied.

"I chose the team over her. I chose you over her," he said, squeezing her hand gently.

She pulled up in front of his apartment. She let go of his hand and he got out. She was about to pull away when she heard a quiet knock on her window. She looked up and saw Tony.

"What?" she asked, rolling down the window.

He hesitated for a moment, debating whether or not he wanted to die tonight. He decided if he was going to die, it would be happily. He leaned in the window quickly and kissed her. To both of their surprise, she didn't pull back. In fact, she did quite the opposite. She leaned in, deepening the kiss through the car window.

*Ring! Ring!*

Ziva's phone rang. She pulled back flustered and checked the caller ID

"Gibbs," she said. He sighed and motioned for her to answer. She did. When she hung up, she turned to him, about to explain, but was cut off by Tony's phone. He answered and Gibbs told him about the case.

"You want a ride?" Ziva asked. Tony nodded and got back in the car.

They pulled up at NCIS Headquarters. As they rode up the elevator, Tony turned to Ziva.

"How are we going to explain this to Gibbs, our showing up together and such?" he asked.

Before Ziva had a chance to answer, the elevator doors opened. They couple was surprised to see the whole team, including Abby, Jenny, and Ducky, standing in the bullpen.

"What the-?" Tony exclaimed.

Abby squealed with glee and hugged Timmy.

"You all owe me twenty bucks!" she shouted joyfully.

"I think we have been tricked," Ziva commented, stepping out of the elevator, hand in hand with Tony.

"I think you're probably right," Gibbs commented.

"So there's no case?" Tony asked, baffled.

Ducky shook his head, "I'm afraid not Anthony. Miss Scuito bet us all you two were together, what with the deal with Le Grenouille and such. We were all very worried about you. However, turns out Abigail was correct in her assumptions."

"I always am Duck Man," Abby laughed. "So cough up the money."

She received all that was owed to her, then turned around and took them all out to dinner. Le Grenouille was dead, Jeanne had moved on, Tony and Ziva were together, and everything was right among the team once more. Life was good at NCIS.

**A/N: I totally forgot about this story, and while cleaning up some files on my computer, I found it and read it again. Turns out when I closed it, I stopped in mid sentence, and I had no idea how I was going to originally end the story. Hope you all like how it turned out.**

**XOXO, Boss**


End file.
